SXSW Adventures 2010 (part 1)

It seems absurd on the surface, but I actually made the trip to SXSW as a means of relaxation. Looking at the various schedules of conferences, films and live music events was anything but relaxing, and figuring out exactly how I was going to navigate this behemoth of a festival ended up stressing me out all over again.

I had planned on spending the day before my flight assembling a matrix of events I’d like to see so I’d have an easy to reference road map of what interested me, thus narrowing down the infinite options to a manageable handful or three.

Yeah, right.

My focus was on anything but filtering all the information I had stumbled upon, so in the end I simply marked up a printout of a spreadsheet of unofficial events, referred back to the official SXSW web site when I could, and winged all the rest. Though I missed a few shows I would have liked to have attended (not to mention any and all films that looked interesting to me – maybe next time), approaching SXSW with a loose idea of what I’d like to see and an “anything goes” attitude for everything in between seemed to be exactly what the week called for. And being that I was staying with my friend Josh the whole week, keeping things loose made sense in that regard too. It allowed us a balance between going out and chilling out that might not have been as easy to get into had I ended up sharing a hotel with hardcore festival goers.

I considered the hotel option, but that only would have worked if this was a work trip. I made no plans to cover this festival in any way, and even though this post kind of does that, it kind of doesn’t either. As you’re about to see, my view from the ground is pretty modest in terms of following the pulse of the festival compared to other accounts you’ll read.

Tuesday the 16th was the day I arrived, and rather than head straight into the action, I started off the week away from the fray, with a guitar in my hand. After Josh and I rendezvoused with our friends Nate and Levi for some dinner, we headed back to Levi’s place for a little jamming. We mostly stuck to simple two chord progressions, with Nate setting the tone on an electric keyboard, Levi fleshing out the sound on piano, and Josh switching between another electric keyboard and sharing the piano with Levi. I stuck to acoustic guitar, picking out melodies, scales and progressions to complement the hypnotic minor chords flowing all around me. This went on for a good long while, though I couldn’t really say how long. Time stood still I suppose. Suffice to say, it was a great little session that left me feeling higher than any recreational substance might have achieved. I really couldn’t have imagined a better start to the week.

While Josh took care of some business during the day on Wednesday, I got my first taste of the many completely free daytime shows that were happening all week. First stop was at the Red Eyed Fly, where I ran into all three of the Happy Hollows during and after an awesome set by The Henry Clay People on the Red Eyed Fly’s outside stage. The Henry Clay People are an L.A. band whose name has been dropped around me numerous times, and it's funny that it took a trip to Austin for me to finally see them. They had that fire in their belly, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing them again on the west coast.

Of course I knew the Happy Hollows would be at the Red Eyed Fly (it was the first of eight shows they played in Austin that week), so I made a point of being there to show some support and congratulate them on all the success they’ve had so far (most recently, they had a brief cameo appearance the previous night on ABC’s Parenthood). But before their set (which was typically awesome, no need for me to gush any more than I already do), the Austin band Brazos played a short but impressive set on the inside stage. They’re a trio, like many of the indie rock bands playing the festival, and though I don’t remember many specifics about their set, I can say that for a trio, they had an intriguing mix of subdued vibes and semi-confident energy. I’d see them again for sure.

Not taking notes didn’t serve me well for the last band I saw at the Red Eyed Fly before meeting back up with Josh, but I was moved in a very positive direction by the lead singer’s pronouncement of death to that terrible old feeling called fear. His invective encouraged me to stab that invisible beast a few more times in the heart, and as you’d imagine, a good rest would be needed after such a purging. And that’s just what the rest of the night had in store – chilling out, talking, resting and relaxing. There would be a ton more to come.

A quick Parlour to Parlour alumni update

With the annual SXSW extravaganza about to let loose down in Austin, Texas, I'm slowly but surely learning of various appearances that several Parlour to Parlour alumni will be making next week. Among them are:

• Leopold and his Fiction (March 16 at Art Disaster No. 10 and March 18 at the Beauty Bar.)
• The Happy Hollows (EIGHT different appearances, check their MySpace. No excuse to miss them if you plan on attending SXSW this year.)
• Correatown (She's got four different dates, check her MySpace.)
• The New Up (Playing at the Texas Rock Fest on March 20, which is not part of SXSW, but it's the same city and same week, so I'm counting it.)

And in upcoming album release news, it appears that two Parlour to Parlour alumni have worked on their third albums with the help of a common reputable producer/mixer. Leopold and his Fiction are releasing an advance single from their forthcoming third album, and The Brother Kite (who have played SXSW in the past, but will not be there this year) have finished and titled their third album (which they are calling Isolation) and are streaming a few tracks on their web site. Who produced the Leopold record? Who mixed the Brother Kite's record? It's also the same guy who has worked with two artists I've listened to quite a bit over the last 12 months, Vetiver and Devendra Banhart. His name is Thom Monahan.

Finally, I've heard the Brother Kite's Isolation, and I can confidently say it's a subtle yet stunning evolution in their sound, one I've been hoping would happen for the past four years. Not only that, Patrick Boutwell's songs keep getting better, and I've already got a couple of favorites that are earning plenty of repeat play on my iPod. Only problem is the band doesn't have a label to distribute the record. They've been free agents since leaving Clairecords, so until someone picks them up, y'all are going to have to wait to hear this 12-song masterpiece. Any takers?

More radio exposure for Parlour to Parlour!

Parlour to Parlour was mentioned yet again on Jon Grayson's Overnight America program on CBS Radio. This time, I was the one who was representing Popdose on the air, and of course Jon asked me to talk a little about Parlour to Parlour. The program aired last night, and is now available to listen in Overnight America's archives. Follow this link, and then click on the 'Micahel Fortes' link once you get there.

Besides Parlour to Parlour (which gave me an opportunity to plug the Aimless Never Miss, the Happy Hollows and the Parson Red Heads), we discussed Ted Kennedy, music producer Tom Werman's final 'Producers' column for Popdose, the weekly Popdose feature 'The Friday Mixtape,' and the new exclusive-to-Wal Mart Foreigner album.

Parlour to Parlour visits the Happy Hollows in L.A.

After having said my goodbyes to Evan, Brette and Aaron from the Parson Red Heads, I took to the road to make my next appointment. I was due to meet the Happy Hollows, who I had first heard during the same month I was first introduced to the Parson Red Heads. Sarah Negahdari's seemingly boundless well of energy meshed so well with the pulsating, borderline-hardcore rhythms of bassist Charlie Mahoney and drummer Chris Hernandez that I had to meet this band.

See the full post at Popdose.

Parlour to Parlour continues with Episode 2: Leopold and his Fiction

To say that Sunday, February 15, 2009, was a busy day for me is an understatement.

I had decided to devote the entire day to Parlour to Parlour shoots, after discovering that I couldn't spread them across two days. Basically, nobody was willing to give up any of their precious Valentines Day hours for an interview. In hindsight, I should have known better than to propose V-day for anything other than a date. But all was well that ended well: I did have a date of my own on the 14th, and I made the rounds on the 15th to visit three different artists I had discovered through my time at Performer Magazine. Daniel James from Leopold and his Fiction was the first I met that day.

See the full post at Popdose.

Introducing... Parlour to Parlour

The following announcement appeared this morning on Popdose. I have reprinted it in its entirety below:

A year ago, I was in the midst of an existential crisis. I was functioning fairly well in my day job capacity at UCSF, and pumping out reviews for West Coast Performer Magazine, Bullz-Eye.com, and – on occasion – Popdose as well. But to what end?

I knew there was far more to life than keeping an office running and giving the world my informed opinion on which album had the greatest guitar solo of 2008 (it was actually on the Vagabond Skies EP by Peter Gabriel protégé Joseph Arthur). I had been reading self-help books, meeting with counselors, talking my parents’ ears off, and asking questions of anyone I thought might be able to give me some insight into the question of how best to realign my priorities.

Then, on a particularly odd day when I decided to load up WCP’s MySpace page to serve as my housecleaning soundtrack, I heard a song by a band whose stock in trade was warm, friendly harmonies, a ‘60s folk-rock streak and good vibes. Lots of other bands have these qualities, but something about this one was different. It moved me in a way I couldn’t quite explain. I jumped up from my sweeping chores to see who it was, and then checked the band’s tour schedule.


I’ve lost count of the number of times I have seen L.A.’s the Parson Red Heads since that day.

Maybe a week afterward, I attended a West Coast Performer Presents showcase at a San Francisco club called the Hotel Utah. I wasn’t familiar with any of the bands on the bill, and to be honest, I probably didn’t even bother listening to the samples on the bands’ MySpace pages before attending – I was more tempted by my editor’s offer of a free beer to any WCP writers who showed up that night. And since a) I very rarely got much face time with her, and b) I was almost certain she was joking and wanted to see if I would *really* get a free beer, I decided I’d take her up on the offer.

Not only was she true to her word, the second band on the bill had my jaw falling to the ground with their quirkiness, energy, Dischord-styled rhythm section and Van Halen-esque guitar tapping frontwoman. I had found a hot new guitar hero!

On account of that beer, I confessed as much to the Happy Hollows’ Sarah Negahdari at the end of her set, and fortunately she was not only flattered, but also receptive to granting me an interview (which ran at Popdose last Fall). And what a coincidence, the Hollows hailed from same Silver Lake scene in L.A. as the Parson Red Heads.

Around this same time, I was also lamenting the fact that I had become so busy that I was no longer able to host couchsurfers in my apartment. I had been doing this on and off since 2005, giving both international and stateside travelers (usually students and others traveling on a budget) a free place to crash when they were passing through town. But, as I had remarked in private on a few occasions, I had built up significant “travel karma” and saw a time when I’d be using it in the not too distant future. For what, I wasn’t sure yet. But something told me that I finally needed to get over my attachment to the idea of the desktop computer and finally buy a laptop.

…and a backpack.

Where I was going and why finally became apparent when I happened to wonder to myself one day whatever happened to The War on Them. This web-only traveling video series chronicled the adventures of Eric and Bobby as they demonstrated the virtues of traveling on a budget via couchsurfing. They interviewed their hosts, gave travel and safety tips, and showed themselves having a good time in places like Memphis, New Orleans and New York City. But when they crossed the border for a trip down to Mexico City, Bobby got pick-pocketed on a train, tensions brewed between the two army buddies, who had survived a tour of duty in Iraq together before embarking on their righteous journey, financial backers fell through, and the series came to an abrupt end.

Just another case of naïve kids getting caught up in the realities of real life, right? Well, if it weren’t for the fact that, in 2006, Eric Wooton had stayed in my San Francisco apartment when passing through town, and shared his treatment of The War on Them with me well before the series launched, I wouldn’t have known nor cared about his adventures.



One thing in particular that Eric said had stuck with me ever since. As we sat on the futon and he explained the idea behind his series, he tied it to the larger goal of the couchsurfing community, which is connected globally via couchsurfing.org: to bring the whole world together, one couch at a time. Sound like a bunch of hippie nonsense? Well, as Eric explained, when having personal one-on-one experiences with people from far-away places, especially foreign countries, it suddenly makes you care a little more about news events in those places, things you probably would have ignored otherwise.

Dots are starting to connect, yes? They certainly did for me, but not how I expected. This is how Parlour to Parlour was born.

What Parlour to Parlour is, then, is a cross between The War on Them and the Black Cab Sessions – traveling around to meet the artists up close in their home turf, rather than carting them around in taxis. And I’m not just capturing intimate, exclusive performances – I’m talking with the artists too, and having them do a little show-and-tell in their creative space. And more than just a simple video, I’m giving you a full multimedia experience: there are stories in text for you to read, songs to download, and each episode will also include a full song performance in a separate video (which, unlike the Black Cab Sessions, is done in two takes in most cases, sometimes three). And, in full couchsurfing spirit, I’m keeping costs low by crashing either with friends and family, or with the artists themselves, wherever I travel.

This, my friends, is what I am delivering to you, every Tuesday for the rest of the year, starting on July 7.

So who’s involved? The aforementioned Parson Red Heads and Happy Hollows were immediate contenders for this series, being that they literally changed my life in 2008. As for the rest of the artists featured in this series, the majority of them I discovered via my association with West Coast Performer Magazine. I started writing for WCP in 2006, the same year I wrote my first piece for Master Jefito during the waning years of Popdose’s daddy, Jefitoblog (that would be The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chicago). Writing for WCP, and especially working with my editor at the time, the passionate and persistent Katherine Hoffert, firmly posited me in the world of West Coast indie music. As such, there’s a definite skew towards the best coast, though I do give some love to New England and Southern Texas. And I’m determined to bring a little international flavor to Parlour to Parlour as well, soon as I can find where I stashed my passport.

As you’ve probably gathered by now, Parlour to Parlour is more than just “behind-the-scenes” peeks at indie musicians, many of whom aren’t particularly well-known outside their own regions. It’s a journey. It’s a path to discovery that anybody can follow, either by living vicariously through the stories and videos you’re about to see, or by going out and meeting new artists yourselves. It’s a tribute to the artists, all of whom I personally handpicked (one of whom, or at the very least the band he co-founded, should be quite familiar to Popdose readers). It’s a tribute to Katherine, who maddeningly lost her job at Performer when this bum economy forced the company to downsize. It’s a show of graciousness and generosity on the part of the artists who opened up their homes and studios to me, in some cases without us ever having formally met prior to these sessions. And as Mr. Giles could see from the very start, it’s a labor of love.

It’s also very real. So real, in fact, that at times you may catch the sound of people chatting in other rooms, birds chirping from nearby, and even the occasional bout of difficulty obtaining the best possible sound during the musical performances. Which is to say, I’m no Ken Burns (though Le Switch’s Aaron Kyle seems to think I’m “the Alan Lomax of indie rock” – keep on drinkin’, Aaron!). But if a drunk fool happens to cause a disturbance at a band’s gig, I’ll make sure you see it.

The Parlour to Parlour train starts chugging on July 7 (don’t need no ticket, you just get on board). I’ll see you then.